Dena's Journal

Surgery Day (day 0) 530 check in time was a little early. It was really hard to leave my boys (2 and 4) without waking them up. Before surgery started I got to see my surgeon again who confirmed that I would be getting a new valve (the Edwards Intuity elite) and that as far as he knew I would be the first to get it in Colorado. This was exciting and a little nerve racking, but I was ready, ready to get the surgery over with and onto recovery. 8am off to surgery. The last thing I remember was the arterial line going in. There was no counting backwards, no “take a few deep breaths” I was just out. 10:45 out of surgery and moved to the icu 11:00 family meeting with surgeon. He mentioned that my valve was ugly, that the actual surgery (time on heart lung machine) was 19 minutes and that my new valve only has three anchor stitches and the circumference was much larger than what he was used to seeing with other tissue valves. My pressure gradient also dropped from 42 to 4. 200pm first time waking up, I don’t remember the breathing tube being taken out (thank goodness, I was dreading waking up with that in place) I do remember being so so so thirsty and having he worst sore throat I’ve ever had. I was given ice chips but unable to keep them down until around 10pm. Theoughout the night the alarms kept going off from my blood pressure dropping below 80, so I got a unit of blood, some different drugs and a lot of hydration. My normal blood pressure is in the 90s, so in the morning my surgeon discharged the blood pressure meds and need for any additional blood. Day 1: I got to get out of bed and walk in place and move to the chair, and order breakfast (although I didn’t really feel like eating anything at all I forced down some oatmeal and pears). My IV lines were all taken out. Oxygen was discharged with room air Sats at 99. I got to wash my face and brush my teeth which made me feel a little more Human. I also moved out of the icu and down the hall to the cardio floor, got rid of the Beeping alarms and monitors and got my telemetry unit all hooked up. I also got to walk around the unit 3 separate times pushing the “cardio cart” which seemed super heavy, but got better each time. Day 2: Early morning PT up the stairs 6 Times, and two laps around the unit. Pacer wires removed, chest tube removed and catheter removed. Walking every 2 hours. My parents brought my boys in to see me and they stayed for a couple hrs. I was able to start waking without assistance around noon. Day 3: Central line out, I got to shower!! And did so well I got to go home in the afternoon. It was a little scary knowing I wouldn’t be monitored 24 hrs a day but it was good to be home!